{"id":105913,"date":"2020-08-26T16:15:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-26T23:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=105913"},"modified":"2020-08-26T16:15:24","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T23:15:24","slug":"a-brief-history-of-two-monk-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/08\/26\/a-brief-history-of-two-monk-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of two monk activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In\nmy opinion, Ven. Athuraliye Ratana and Ven. Galaboda-aththe Gnanasara were\nfollowing two different lines  of activism in the arena of inclusive\nnationalism until their recent  joint pratfall in the mire of dirty\npolitics. The first appears to be a shrewd politician who is trying to get involved\nin issues that should not be politicized; the second is a sincere idealist\npassionately committed to a worthy cause, but constantly defeated by his own\nuncontrolled temper and unguarded tongue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though\nboth are university products, their areas of study were not the same. The first\nstudied philosophy at Peradeniya, while the second focused on Buddhist studies\nat the Kelaniya and Sri Jayawardanepura universities. Ven. Ratana was among the\nfounder members of the Jathika Hela Urumaya party formed in 2004. The formation\nof the party was broadly a response to Buddhist-targeted unethical conversions\nand Christian fundamentalist activities issues. He was one of the nine members\nof the party returned to parliament under the UPFA at the parliamentary election\nheld that year. Ven. Gnanasara founded the Bodu Bala Sena in 2012 mainly to\ncounter the steady growth of multifarious Islamic extremist groups that\neclipsed the still active Christian fundamentalist activities in the public\nconsciousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defensive\nreaction by the victimised majority to the tyranny of racist minority politics\nof Tamil separatists has long been misinterpreted  in the biased global\nmedia and in the international (Western) diplomatic space relating to Sri Lanka\nas unwarranted Sinhalese discrimination against Tamils in general. In the same\nprejudiced way, they have successfully demonized Buddhist monk activists who\nare actively opposing both covert and open religious fundamentalist aggression\nand this has affected the honest but naive Gnanasara Thera more than it has the\nworldly-wise  Ratana Thera. It looks as if the former is now caught in the\nvice-grip of a stratagem set up by the latter.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven.\nGalaboda-aththe Gnanasara Thera\u2019s Bodu Bala Sena organization was formed in\n2012 for the purpose of exposing the subversive activities of Christian and\nIslamic fundamentalist  sects and alerting the authorities and the Ven.\nMahanayakes to the danger posed by them to the whole nation. He endeavoured to\ndo this in the  calm and composed way characteristic of a Buddhist monk,\nwithout expecting any reward in return (= \u2018nissaranadyashayen\u2019  as he used\nto put it). He has had no political or other materialistic ambitions. For many\nyears he tried to explain his case to politicians in power and those in the\nopposition to address the problem without politicizing it. In a few instances,\npeaceful marches organized by the BBS led to  clashes between Buddhists\nand Muslims for which only the former were blamed. In the biased media, Muslims\nwere portrayed as the victims and the Buddhists as the aggressors. The true\nsituation was otherwise. Buddhists never initiated any violent incidents. Some\nunruly elements from the Muslim side started the trouble. For example, in 2014,\nsome young Muslim men threw stones from the roof of a mosque at a peaceful\nBuddhist procession at Aluthgama and  this led to violence, which quickly\nspread to a number of other towns (including Panadura, Beruwala, Welipenna,\netc) in south-western Sri Lanka. There were social media videos showing this\nprovocative act – stone throwing by some young Muslims – at the time. On that\noccasion, thousands of innocent Muslims and and similarly innocent Buddhists\nwere affected and their shops, houses, and places of worship were attacked.\nThough the then Mahinda Rajapaksa-led government did its best to stop the\nviolence and restore normalcy, the incidents were not adequately investigated,\nand not enough was done to clear the name of the BBS which was solely blamed\nfor all that happened. The involvement, on that occasion, of a crafty\npolitician in the garb of a patriotic ally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but\nwith a personal agenda of his own that was inimical to the latter\u2019s policies,\nadded a political tone to the naive monks\u2019 (Ven. Gnanasara\u2019s) peaceful protests,\nand biased reportage turned him  into a bogeyman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of\nsuccessive governments didn\u2019t take Ven. Gnanasara seriously enough because they\nthought that if they took any decisive action, on his word, against the handful\nof powerful communalists among minority politicians who, intentionally or\nunintentionally, either facilitated, or provided a cover for, questionable acts\nsuch as anti-Buddhist subversion, illegal felling of trees in the state forest\nreserve in Wilpattuwa, alleged settling of  illicit Muslim immigrants from\ncertain Islamic countries in the same reserve, encroachment and even\nvandalizing of historic Buddhist places of worship in the North and East, and\nso on, they would lose the support of the mainstream Christian and Muslim\ncommunities, which being minorities, naturally tend to form themselves into\n\u2018block vote\u2019 bases at the instance of opportunistic politicians.  The\nmajority of ordinary Muslims do not want to support communalist politicians,\nbut they are often in the thrall of those politicians, because of the latter\u2019s\nability to \u2018deliver\u2019, whichever major party or alliance happens to be in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The polity\nconsisting of the majority community (Sinhalese) cannot behave like this. In\nany country, it is normal for the majority community to be unconsciously\nundermined by a false sense of security vis-a-vis the minorities, whereas the\nlatter feel a bit paranoid with or without justification. The Sinhalese voting\npublic are always divided into rival parties, and at parliamentary elections, under\nthe existing electoral system, it is extremely rare that a major party is able\nto  form a viable government without the assistance of one or more\nminority parties, a situation where the latter become kingmakers despite the\ninsignificance of their numerical strength. The slightest movement towards\nredressing the balance in favour of the disadvantaged majority Sinhalese in any\nanomalous situation would invariably earn the individual Sinhalese activist or\nthe group behind that initiative the label of racist or extremist or\nchauvinist. So, the Sinhalese (Buddhists, particularly) get criticised and\ncondemned as racists, tribalists, etc. while in reality being victims of the\nracism, fanaticism, and extremism of groups within the minorities. This applies\nto Ven. Gnanasara as well who is engaged in the performance of the duty that\nhas historically devolved on him as a Buddhist monk, a duty that is above\npolitics, pragmatic or otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Gnanasara\nThera approached the Most Ven. Mahanayakes in Kandy and pleaded with them\nbeseechingly, not once, but several times, and explained to them this problem\nwith video evidence of outrageous Buddhism-bashing speeches of Wahabist\nzealots, to no avail. Once, a few years ago, the monk led a large procession of\nwell disciplined young activists (more than 2000) from Getambe to the Sri\nDalada Maligawa (a distance of about four kilometers), and then they proceeded\nto the Malwatu Vihara, the monastery of the Ven. Mahanayake of the Malwatte\nChapter. The Mahanayake Thera, at first, very unfairly, refused him an\naudience. Later, having found that they were not ready to leave without seeing\nhim, he allowed Ven. Gnanasara and a few of his companions to come before him.\nNothing resulted from that meeting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BBS leader\nwanted the Maha Sangha to play their historic role as Buddhist monks without\nstooping to politics, and was determined to resolve the Islamic extremist\nproblem through rational dialogue with the participation of the clergy of other\nreligious groups (which is what he has always wanted to do because even groups\nof traditional Muslims, he claims with evidence, approached him and pleaded\nwith him to rescue them from Wahabist and Salabist extremists). Unlike him Ven.\nAthuraliye Ratana Thera seemed to be adopting a political approach in his one\nman political crusade against Islamist extremists. Just before the recent 2020\ngeneral election Ven. Gnanasara gave up his non-political stance, probably\nunder someone\u2019s persuasion.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The April 21,\n2019 Easter Sunday terrorist bombings led to a heightening of public awareness\nabout the Islamist problem that had been brought to light by monk activists\nyears before; the issue began to receive attention from the clergy of other\nreligions , as well. The then UNP national list MP Ven. Ratana took the\nopportunity to visit the construction site of an alleged Sharia university in\nBaticaloa in the east being built without proper authorization from the Sri\nLankan government  and financed by suspicious foreign sources; he\nsucceeded in forcing the Yahapalana government of which he was a prominent\nmember at the time to suspend the construction work for the time being. \nUnder the same pretext, he staged a \u2018fast unto death\u2019 in the vicinity of the\nDalada Maligawa, in Kandy. It was tantamount to claiming exclusive credit for\ncreating a groundswell of popular opposition  against Islamist extremism.\nI, as a journalist, wrote at the time that his maverick intervention in the\nlatter instance (the uncalled for gatecrashing of the protest movement with a\nfast) was bound to undermine the emerging unity among the Maha Sangha in the\nface of adventitious ISIS terror. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I expressed\nthe opinion that the activism of Buddhist organizations including Ven.\nGnanasara Thera\u2019s BBS facilitated this awakening among the Buddhist clergy and\nthat it could help form a united Sanga community that spoke with one voice on\nmatters that came within their purview.  But it appeared that Hon MP Ven.\nRatana, most probably, wanted to edge out the leaders of that movement and\nassume control of it, with a view to playing a powerful dual role in the\ncorresponding political power structure that would evolve: the traditional role\nof a representative of the Maha Sangha as the guardian of the Buddhist\nmoral-cultural establishment, the nation (the people), and the country\n(territory) of unitary Sri Lanka on the one hand and the acquired role of party\npolitician on the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, Ven. Ratana\nseemed to be trying to play a two-in-one function combining both those roles.\nHowever, the role traditionally assigned to the Maha Sangha has been above that\nof the king or, in modern times, the government. The ruler assigned a higher\nseat to the monk and paid him obeisance. The monks didn\u2019t dabble in policy\nmaking or in governing, but advised the ruler on how to rule in the righteous\nway according to the Dasa Raja Dharma or the Ten Duties of the King. The\nquestion of a problematic religion state relationship did not arise. Buddhism\nis not a political religion. The only politics it advocates is democracy. The\nMaha Sangha is a perfectly democratic social entity. In the modern world it is\nconsidered essential to keep religion and the state separate from each other in\norder to ensure democratic governance of the Western type (This is more\nrelevant to societies dominated by political religions.) So every secular\ndemocracy can be regarded as broadly consistent with Buddhist principles and\nvice versa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ven. Ratana\ncannot provide the political leadership that the country needs, nor can he\nprovide any spiritual leadership either, because of his attempted dabbling in\nstatecraft and priestcraft simultaneously. A Buddhist monk is not likely to\nmake a good president or prime minister. The impression among political\nanalysts is that  Ven. Ratana is a typical politician and a pragmatic\npolitical strategist (Pragmatism is amoral, or rather not moral, but it is part\nand parcel of realpolitik that a politician can rarely avoid). That he is\nclever at dissembling was evident to the less gullible onlookers during his\n\u2018fast unto death\u2019 before the Sri Dalada Maligawa (He took care not to die, by\ndrinking water, as the Catholic priest who joined him on the fast revealed,\nprobably inadvertently). It was obvious that he was not alone in staging the\nshow. The Ven. Mahanayake Theras severely criticised him after the event. He\nhad approached them beforehand and told them about his intention of staging a\nfast, but cunningly he did not reveal the venue to them. Had they been told\nthat he was going to have his fast in the hallowed precincts of the Maligawa,\nthey would not have permitted him to do so; that would have been a serious\nsetback for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of Ven.\nGnanasara\u2019s exertions, unprecedented prospects of different religious\ncommunities standing up to the common enemy of murderous religious extremism\nwere brightening. We were witnessing the first stirrings of a spring in the\nSangha Sasana, that is potentially freed from abominable Nikaya divisions,\nwhich are based on caste in stark contradiction of the compassionate Buddha\u2019s\nteaching. Ven. Gnanasara made arguably the largest contribution to this most\npositive development. However, his entanglement with Ratana Thera has cost him\nhis reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The monks do not\nrelish the idea of establishing a Buddhist theocracy, which is, in any\ncase,  inconceivable, considering the spirit of absolute democracy that\ncharacterizes the Maha Sangha. Buddha praised the system of government followed\nby the Licchavis of Vesali of his time, who were his relations of his own\nwarrior caste (not that the Buddha was a casteist; he was a perfect\nrenunciant). It was a form of a republican system of government by common\nconsent, an ancient version of what we call democracy today. However, the\nmonks\u2019 staying above mundane politics doesn\u2019t mean that they don\u2019t have\nanything to do with secular politics (or how the country is run). Buddhist\nmonks in the majority Buddhist Sri Lanka have been the custodians of the\ncountry\u2019s Buddhist cultural heritage for over two thousand two hundred and\nfifty years according to written records. By the way, which other country in\nthe world can boast of such a long unbroken singular spiritual cultural\ntradition? Shouldn\u2019t the United Nations Organization make special recognition\nof this fact in the name of human civilization, which is currently being\nthreatened with annihilation by murderous religious extremism? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the influence\nof its humane spiritual values, Buddhism ensures, not only the peaceful\ncoexistence of the various communities who live in the country, but also the\nunhindered enjoyment and protection of their freedom of belief and worship.\nHowever, Buddhists will not accept the alleged divine right of adherents of any\nparticular religion to kill or persecute those who don\u2019t share their beliefs\nand practices or to discriminate against them. What Ven. Gnansara proposed to\nthe Maha Sangha is that they unite and provide the necessary moral guidance for\nthe rulers to rule the country righteously, whatever political ideologies they\nsubscribe to. This does not involve any violation of secular democracy in\ngovernance. He says that the Sri Lankan society today is sick in every way. To\nheal the society, the Maha Sangha must unite and provide guidance to the\nrulers. He quotes the Buddha\u2019s teaching: \u2018sukho sanghassa samaggi\u2019 \u2018Happy is\nharmony among the Sangha\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Ven.\nGnanasara Thera predicts that when the Maha Sangha are united, the politicians\nand the people will fall in line, and a suitable lay political leadership will\nemerge. Ven. Ratana\u2019s intervention in his capacity as an MP monk probably\nproduced some limited positive results in the immediate context, but in the\nlong run, it will be counterproductive. He is only doing more of what he did in\nthe past. And we all know what he did has led to. His involvement will be an\nobstacle to the functioning of the lay political leaders that the whole country\napproves of as being capable of fixing not only the problem of Wahabist\nincursion, but also the infinitely greater issue of external interference in\nthe country\u2019s domestic affairs that, in the first place, as the media reveal,\ninflicted it (jihadist terrorism) on our  nation under the Yahapalanaya. It is not\nthat he (Ven. Ratana) is not aware of what he is doing; he is not such a dumb\ncharacter. We may be sure that, sooner or later, he will make amends in some\nway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island In my opinion, Ven. Athuraliye Ratana and Ven. Galaboda-aththe Gnanasara were following two different lines  of activism in the arena of inclusive nationalism until their recent  joint pratfall in the mire of dirty politics. The first appears to be a shrewd politician who is trying to get involved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}